MARCH 29 MEETING

 IT SOON WILL BE MEETING TIME AGAIN!

Come on down to Chappell Hill Monday March 29 for our AMD meeting.  Bring your books, regalia and come to fellowship, to learn and to conduct business.

St Lawrence the Martyr

This degree explains the story of St. Lawrence the Martyr and reminds us, yet again, that fidelity to a noble cause is greater than mere acceptance of humans.  The degree has been worked in England for over 200 years teaching the lessons of fortitude and humility.

The candidate represents a brother about to proceed on his journeys into foreign lands seeks the hospitality of like minded brothers.  Aprons are white edged in 1.5 inch royal blue ribbons with orange in the center.

St.Lawrence was thought to have been born on December 31, AD 225. He was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome, Italy, under Pope Sixtus II.  These deacons were martyred during the persecution of the Christians that the Roman Emperor Valerian ordered in AD 258. 

Lawrence encountered the future Pope Sixtus II, who was of Greek origin and one of the most famous and highly esteemed teachers in Spain. Eventually, both left Spain for Rome. When Sixtus became the Pope in 257, he ordained Lawrence as a deacon, and though Lawrence was still young, he appointed him first among the seven deacons who served in the cathedral church. As deacon in Rome, Lawrence was responsible for the material goods of the Church and the distribution of alms to the poor.

Roman authorities had established that all Christians who had been denounced must be executed and their goods confiscated by the Imperial treasury. At the beginning of August 258, the Emperor Valerian issued an edict that all bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death. Pope Sixtus II was captured on 6 August 258, at the cemetery of St Callixtus while celebrating the liturgy and executed forthwith.

After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church. Lawrence worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the indigent as possible, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, Lawrence presented himself to the prefect and when ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church he presented the indigent, the crippled, the blind, and the suffering, and declared that these were the true treasures of the Church. On 10 August, Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, and therefore, the ranking Church official, suffered a martyr's death.

The prefect was so angry that he had a great gridiron prepared with hot coals beneath it, and had Lawrence placed on it, hence Lawrence's association with the gridiron. After the martyr had suffered pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he cheerfully declared: "I'm well done on this side. Turn me over!" From this St. Lawrence derives his patronage of cooks, chefs, and comedians.